Towards a Sustainable Interpretation of Standard Contract Terms?

The relation between environmental sustainability (ES) and standard contract terms (SCT) is far from obvious. Contractual interpretation and the control of content may represent an anchor point for the integration of ES. However, it is necessary to delimit such ‘heteronomous’ intervention. This chapter looks at these aspects through Directive 93/13/EU on unfair terms and the control of the content of SCT by national law. Two applications are also proposed: from the perspective of Switzerland, as a non-EU Member State having nevertheless close links to the EU, and from the perspective of Belgium, more particularly, regarding the (controversial) concept of causa.